IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Drake University men's and women's cross country teams opened their seasons with encouraging performances Friday, Sept. 1, evening at the Hawkeye Invitational.
Senior Bailee Cofer (Overland Park, Kan.) had the team's top performance on the day, finishing 10th in the women's 4-kilometer race with a time of 14:27.7. Josh Yeager (Center Point, Iowa) had the men's team's top finish with a 12th place showing in the 6-kilometer race and a time of 18:14.0
"In the women's race, Bailee Cofer showed her summer training with a top-10 finish and two freshmen, Elizabeth Aho and Millie Bretl, scored for us, so that was a great start to the season for our women," said first-year Drake head coach Mark Carroll. "Josh [Yeager] and Kyle [Brandt] looked like they put in some good work over the summer and it was a great start overall. Hopefully we get stronger week after week."
Mykaela Cole (Urbandale, Iowa) was the second Bulldog across the finish line in the women's race in 34th place followed by Elizabeth Aho (Grayslake, Ill.) in 36th, Morgan Garcia (Marion, Iowa) in 39th and Millie Bretl (Milwaukee, Wis.) in 40th among the 61-runner field.
Yeager's time in the men's race was trailed by Kyle Brandt's (Maple Grove, Minn.) 14th-place finish in 18:24.9 while freshman Kurt TeBeest (Montevideo, Minn.) was 40th and Xavier Lechleitner (Edgar, Wis.) came in 43rd. Maximilian Fridrich was 48th to complete the scoring for the men's team in the 76-runner field.
The Bulldogs competed against host Iowa, Iowa State, UNI, Illinois State, Creighton and Central Iowa in the meet that was scored as a double dual amongst the teams. Drake's men's squad defeated Creighton in that scoring.
The Bulldogs return to competition next Friday, Sept. 8, at the Oz Memorial in Falcon Heights, Minn.
2017 Hawkeye Invitational
Ashton Cross Country Course – Iowa City, Iowa
Drake Men's Results – 6k
12. Josh Yeager, 18:14.0
14. Kyle Brandt, 18:24.9
40. Kurt TeBeest, 19:14.8
43. Xavier Lechleitner, 19:16.2
48. Maximilian Fridrich, 19:22.6
53. Matt Cozine, 19:27.0
58. Joe Romain, 19:33.7
60. Chris Kaminski, 19:41.4
61. Justin Philips, 19:43.5
65. Cole Friedman 20:12.9
72. Alec Bognar, 21:32.9
Drake Women's Results – 4k
10. Bailee Cofer, 14:25.7
34. Mykaela Cole, 15:23.2
36. Elizabeth Aho, 15:30.5
39. Morgan Garcia, 15:43.5
40. Millie Bretl, 15:44.1
44. Olivia Rogers, 15:52.1
49. Paige Nicholson, 16:13.8
51. Kenzie Mente, 16:15.4
52. Kayla Giuliano, 16:19.8
55. Rachel Selva, 16:40.3
57. Meghan Kearney, 16:54.4
